After opening the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the lower seed against the hated Pittsburgh Penguins, the Philadelphia Flyers will have home-ice advantage for their Eastern Conference Semifinal series against the New Jersey Devils.
The series gets underway Sunday with Game 1 at the Wells Fargo Center Sunday afternoon. The game can be seen on NBC, with face-off set to take place shortly after 3 p.m.
Philadelphia advanced to the second round of the playoffs by eliminating the Penguins in six games, with the last win coming by the score of 5-1 last Sunday. New Jersey reached the second round after defeating the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of their conference quarterfinal series by a score of 3-2 on an overtime goal by Adam Henrique.
The Flyers and Devils met six times during the regular season, with each team winning three games, though one of New Jersey's victories came via the shootout.
This will be the fifth playoff meeting between the two franchises since the Devils relocated to New Jersey in 1982. The Devils defeated the Flyers in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1995 and 2000, with the latter series remembered mainly for Scott Stevens' violent hit on Eric Lindros in Game 7.
The Flyers have gained a measure of revenge in recent years, as Philadelphia defeated New Jersey in the Conference Quarterfinals in 2004 and 2010.
